NOVEMBEE 26, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



745 



the work by awarding Professor RosanofE 

 its Nichols Medal for the year 1910. As 

 distillation plays a very prominent part in 

 many of our leading industries, the impor- 

 tance of the investigation requires no com- 

 ment. 



Other valuable researches conducted by 

 Professor Rosanoff had to do with such 

 well-known generalizations as the theory of 

 electrolytic dissociation and the law of mass 

 action. In the case of the hydrolysis of 

 sucrose, and the decomposition of tertiary 

 amyl esters, other investigators have re- 

 ported results which were at variance with 

 one or both of these hypotheses, and the 

 consequence has been increasing confusion 

 and perplexity. By long-continued study 

 of these problems, on the part of his co- 

 laborers and himself. Dr. Rosanoff has 

 proved both mathematically and experi- 

 mentally that the observations primarily 

 responsible for this troublesome condition 

 of affairs were inaccurate and misleading, 

 and that the theories of electrolytic disso- 

 ciation and of mass action are beautifully 

 confirmed in these particular eases also. To 

 bring order out of chaos is indeed a wel- 

 come service. The "hydrolysis of sucrose" 

 probably sounds highly technical to the 

 layman, but it is a chemical reaction upon 

 which depends the evaluation of the entire 

 sugar output of the world. As our country 

 has something like three hundred million 

 dollars invested in the sugar business, the 

 problem obviously has its practical side as 

 well. 



All of his work has been characterized 

 by the refinement and precision of the 

 pliysico-chemical measurements made, the 

 painstaking and laborious efforts to elimi- 

 nate all possible sources of error, and the 

 immense number of experiments carried out 

 before any conclusions are drawn. 



In the coming years, I can wish for him 

 no higher reward than that he may succeed 



in communicating to his students some of 

 his own contagious and enthusiastic love 

 of the subject, since this is the greatest 

 been in the gift of any teacher and the one 

 which brings most happiness to the donor. 

 With that compelling inspiration, the stu- 

 dent will get the dry facts of the science in 

 due time; without it, knowledge alone can 

 never make him a really great man. 



For his comfort, I would remind my col- 

 leagues of the words o,f Epictetus : 



Remember that such was, and is, and will be the 

 nature of the universe, and that it is not possible 

 that the things which came into being can come 

 into being otherwise than they do now; and that 

 not only men have participated in this change and 

 transmutation, and all other living things which 

 are on the earth, but also the things which are 

 divine. And indeed the very four elements are 

 changed and transmuted up and down, and earth 

 becomes water and water becomes air, and the air 

 again is transmuted into other things, and the 

 same manner of transmutation takes place from 

 above to below. If a man attempts to turn his 

 mind toward these thoughts, and to persuade him- 

 self to accept with willingness that which is neces- 

 sary, he will pass through life with complete mod- 

 eration and harmony. 



I am confident that he will never become 

 so deeply engrossed in his researches as to 

 lose sight of the main purpose of all edu- 

 cation, wbich is to make better men and 

 more useful citizens; and that his efforts 

 will always be directed to training men to 

 be not only great scientists, but also great 

 Americans, and that in so doing he will not 

 fail to impress upon each student that the 

 individual is but one of the players in the 

 mighty drama of human life and endeavor, 

 and that he should therefore play his part 

 worthily, as owing a debt both to his pro- 

 fession and to the community in which he 

 lives. "What art do you teach, Prota- 

 goras?" asked Socrates. "I teach the art 

 of citizenship, ' ' replied the sophist. ' ' Then, 

 indeed," said Socrates, "you teach the 

 noblest and best of all arts, for it includes 

 all others. ' ' And Epictetus writes : 



